Terrifying administrative efficiency

On the Police Academy Training Ground, officers rushed over to report the situation outside to Joseph and the others.

"Baron Bessonval?" Joseph frowned slightly upon hearing the name.

Isn't that the commander of the French Guard?

When the Paris stormed the Bastille, this man not only failed to stop them, but instead transferred all his troops to Mars Training Field in the suburbs.

If he had merely been observing, that would have been one thing, but he even dispatched an Artillery unit to assist in the bombardment of the Bastille. Furthermore, his troops frequently resupplyed at the Royal Palace, essentially confirming that they were Orleans faction. It would be a miracle if Louis XVI could control the situation with such men in charge of Paris.

Joseph definitely needs to replace this kind of person, but he needs to stabilize the military Nobility as much as possible, so he hasn't taken action yet.

But since they've come knocking on our door this time, we don't need to give them a friendly look.

A short while later, Friant came out from the training field, raising his hat in salute:

"You must be General Bessonval? It's a pleasure to meet you."

"My name is Friant, and I Dean of Academic Affairs at the Paris Police Academy. How may I help you?"

Bessonval sat upright on his horse, nodded slightly, and pointed to the training ground with his whip. "Why is there the sound of cannons here?"

"Cannon fire?" Friant smiled, following the Police Academy's Confidentiality Plan. "Ah, we're holding a ceremony to celebrate the completion of our assessments, and we need to fire cannons to celebrate."

Bessonval paused for a moment, then said irritably, "I'm asking you, why are there cannons on the Police Academy's training grounds!"

"Your Excellency, is there any law that prohibits Police Academy from possessing cannons?"

Bessonval was taken aback again; it seemed there really wasn't—there hadn't even been Police Academy before, so where did the relevant laws come from?

He frowned and asked, "Why do you want to buy cannons?"

Friant replied matter-of-factly, "Of course, it's used to maintain city security."

"You need cannons to maintain order?!"

Friant nodded. "General Bessonval, do you remember the barricades that the mob built at the street corners during the ' Flour Riot ' a few years ago? Even the troops sent to quell the uprising couldn't get past those obstacles."

"We believe that if something similar were to happen in Paris, only artillery could restore order."

"Even if a riot breaks out, it's impossible to rely on you Police to solve it." Bessonval glanced at him sideways and sneered, "Come to think of it, last month when rioters besieged the High Court for so long, I didn't see any Police dare to suppress them."

Friant exclaimed in shock, "General, those protesters are demanding severe punishment for the notorious Weijinie. Do you really think they should be suppressed?"

"You..."

Bessonval was furious. Public opinion had already equated Weijinie with evil. Anyone who dared to take the wrong side on this matter would be condemned to death by the Paris Citizens.

He glared at Friant, then arrogantly raised his hand, saying, "Please step aside. An important person will be visiting soon, and I must ensure the safety of this area. Now, I need to go in and inspect."

Friant remained unmoved, and said with a slight smile, "I'm afraid that won't work, Your Excellency, unless you have orders from His Majesty the King or the Police Department."

Bessonval had never taken the Police seriously, and he turned to give a wink to the Guard accompanying him.

Several Guard immediately stepped forward to take Friant away, but then they heard footsteps coming from the direction of the training ground, and then more than 30 police officers came out in a line.

The police officer in charge gave a series of commands. The thirty-odd men quickly spread out, forming two Horizontal Formation, and aimed their guns at Bessonval.

The latter's face immediately stiffened. He thought that even the Police Commissioner would have to be respectful to him, but he never expected that a mere Police Academy officer would dare to point a gun at him.

"You! You'll regret what you did today!" Bessonval sneered, pulled on the reins, and led his men away in a sorry state.

Joseph didn't pay much attention to this little incident, after all, the Police Academy was nominally under the jurisdiction of the City Hall, and Bessonval wouldn't dare to do anything to it.

Lorraine, northeastern France.

Governor Latour glanced at the document in his hand, frowned, and asked his assistant, "Charlie, isn't this the order I issued to Maurice the day before yesterday?"

"Oh, sir, this is it." The assistant hurriedly pointed to a line of small print, "Viscount Leneveu believes this place might conflict with the conscription decree from two years ago, so he specifically requested to confirm with you."

Latour frowned again. "So, is there actually a conflict?"

"Ah, I think it shouldn't be..."

Latour nodded, picked up his pen to sign the document, and was about to hand it to his assistant when an official hurried into the office, bowed, and said, "Your Excellency, a document has just arrived from the Versailles Palace."

"Content?"

"It seems they want you to send someone immediately to count the Potato and coordinate their loading and transport."

Latour took the document, glanced at it, and asked in surprise, "Where did these Potato come from? Maurice just sent me back the documents for the Potato purchase."

The official said, "Sir, it seems that Viscount Valin sent men to purchase it. Oh, his men arrived at noon and are waiting outside now."

Latour ordered Valin's men to come in and inquire about the situation. He then learned that Valin had been commissioned to start purchasing Potato in various places five days ago, and had already collected over a million pounds, all of which were piling up at the docks waiting to be counted and loaded onto ships.

Latour busied himself with drafting documents, checking them, signing them, and distributing them to the corresponding Governor' deputies.

He then drafted another document to report to the Versailles Palace that the previous work had been terminated due to changes in orders and the assistance of merchants.

Valin's men, following their master's instructions, urged the clerk who delivered the documents to hurry up and followed him all the way to the Governor...

According to the standard administrative procedures in France at that time, the Governor's main responsibility was merely to relay and issue documents, handing over the instructions from the Versailles Palace to the acting Governor in various regions.

The acting Governor would review the documents, and if he found any problems, he would send them back for re-signing. If there were no problems, he would appoint the local official in charge of the matter, who would then apply for funding and find someone to carry out the work.

Of course, if lower-level officials find anything wrong with the document, they will send it back for confirmation...

Given the administrative efficiency of Lorraine Province, they've only reached the halfway point of the first step, and it's estimated that the purchasing work won't begin for another four or five days. Meanwhile, Mirabeau's merchant friends have already collected over a million pounds of Potato, with more still en route by land.

As for the transport convoys and ships, they were all arranged by some of Mirabeau's friends; otherwise, His Excellency the Governor would have had to slowly assemble the vehicles and ships.

However, just dispatching officials to count the Potato took a full three days—a step that merchants absolutely could not do for them. And without the officials' signatures of confirmation, they could not receive payment for the Potato.

By the time the millions of pounds of Potato were counted and loaded onto the ship, another day had passed.

With only about 20 days left until the usual Spring Planting in France, it was almost certain that the southernmost provinces would miss the opportunity to plant Potato.

The first boats, laden with Potato, sailed down the Orne River toward Bordeaux, which was further away.

My novel, "My Lady, Please Stop," is a completed gender-swap fantasy story, and an audiobook version is also available. You are welcome to read it.

Synopsis of "My Lady, Please Stop":

A surgeon unexpectedly transmigrates to a different world where women are stronger than men, and he becomes Xu Yang, the young master of the Xu Family.

Women with powerful spiritual energy can move mountains and fill seas, pluck stars from the sky and blot out the sun, conquering the world with their strength.

I, Xu Yang, conquer the world not by living off women... cough cough, but by using soft power!

(End of this chapter)